Converting Routes from CE to Raymarie

TF, I need your help. This has turned into an all day task!

I use Coastal Explorer to plan my routes. I have a Raymarine c97 MFD. I called Raymarine and they told me to use GPS Babel to convert the file. I have used this program in the past to convert my routes from Active Cap't to the Lowrance MFD and it worked great.

So in CE, I exported my route and used an "GPX" extension on my file. When I started to convert it on GPS Babel, the only file I found with Raymarine is "Raymarine Waypoint File (.rwf)."

So I loaded the converted file on a miniature SD card inserted into my c97, went to "My Data", selected SD 1, then scrolled to "retrieve from card", selected "retrieve routes" and nothing. No files found.

This is frustrating me as I purchased CE specifically to plan routes and transpose them to my MFDs.

Any help would be very helpful. Thank You!!!!

CE says contact Raymarine and Raymarine says use GPS Babel...........

Have you asked CE the same question? Are you running CE on Windows 7, 10 or XP?

Every day when cruising I set up a course on Nobeltec and on Furuno NN 3. Never even thought of trying to download from one to other. I'm so old fashioned I even have paper charts out!

When you run GPSBabel, is it able to find the .GPX file that you created in CE? And does it successfully create the .RWF output file that you specify? In both cases, I think you need to tell GPSBabel the file name and where it's located.

I don't have a Ray system, but just did a quick test and was able to create a .GPX file from CE with a single route, the use GPSBabel and direct it to the GPX file as the input, and a new .RWF file for output. It says the conversion was successful, and there is a new .RWF file as specified.

Tom, sent you a PM.

Marty.........................

Thanks to Marty, we got it figured out. I had just done a Raymarine update. That enabled me to upload a GPX file directly to the c97! Marty had the new manual (I had an older version) and stepped me through it!


Thanks again Marty and the TF family!!!


BTW yes I did call CE and Raymarine. Neither were very helpful.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

BTW yes I did call CE and Raymarine. Neither were very helpful.

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Well you might have looked on the CE Forum: Route transfer to Raymarine A-series MFD

Have you realized that it's RM that deliberately tries to make this hard so you'll buy their planning software? WPTs are not NMEA sentences and RM keeps them proprietary.

BTW, when I got it working I decided to punt on it - it's not worth the effort. I just go into "Cruise" mode on CE and my RM AP just pulls off the steering instructions. Having the routes and WPTs in my RM MFD adds zero value for me.

refugio said:

Well you might have looked on the CE Forum: Route transfer to Raymarine A-series MFD

Have you realized that it's RM that deliberately tries to make this hard so you'll buy their planning software? WPTs are not NMEA sentences and RM keeps them proprietary.

BTW, when I got it working I decided to punt on it - it's not worth the effort. I just go into "Cruise" mode on CE and my RM AP just pulls off the steering instructions. Having the routes and WPTs in my RM MFD adds zero value for me.

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Thanks for the link. I made a comment on it.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Thanks for the link. I made a comment on it.

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I see that. I am "centerisland" over there. ? Brad is the owner of Rosepoint. I knew him at Microsoft years ago.


Keith

refugio said:

I see that. I am "centerisland" over there. �� Brad is the owner of Rosepoint. I knew him at Microsoft years ago.


Keith

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Thanks Keith! I love CE and it does help if you upgrade the MFD........

You might try GPS Utility. I've used GPS Utility for years to move waypoints and routes among CE, Nobeltec, Furuno, Garmin, GPX format, text files and Excel files. I see in the file dialog box it formats that will work with Raymarine files.

The learning curve with GPS Utility is steep and can be very frustrating. However the author Alan Murphy is very helpful and on occasion has customized the software to suit my and other user's needs. Help is also available on the Yahoo User Group.

GPS Utility - Home

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/gpsu/info

Portage_Bay said:

The learning curve with GPS Utility is steep and can be very frustrating. However the author Alan Murphy is very helpful and on occasion has customized the software to suit my and other user's needs. Help is also available on the Yahoo User Group.

GPS Utility - Home

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/gpsu/info

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That's the truth. I downloaded it and gave up on it 30 minutes later. Raymarine at least accepts GPX files now, so I am now able to plan with CE and move it to my MDS. I know CE was meant for a laptop type of operation, but I am thankful they have considered folks that have MDS and it also takes information from Active Captain and displays it on CE. One reason I choose CE.

Raymarine has a navigation planning program called Voyage Planner. The program itself stinks but you can import .GPX files created in CE to it and then convert them to Ray's .FSH format for import to your MFD.

I use Garmin's Homeport software for planning purposes, convert the routes to .GPX, import them to Ray's voyage planner and then convert them to Ray's .FSH format for import to my Ray E80W. Since I have both a Garmin and Ray MFD, once the routes are created in Homeport and exported to both MFD's the routes display exactly the same.

It's a convoluted process but works.

Ha Tim! Sounds like me with my Lowrance and Raymarine MFD!